pit bull
Americannoun
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a stocky, muscular dog with a broad skull and a smooth coat, belonging to an informal category of purebred and mixed-breed dogs that includes the American Staffordshire terrier, the Staffordshire bull terrier, and sometimes the American bulldog or boxer.
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Also called American pit bull terrier. American Staffordshire terrier.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of pit bull
First recorded in 1925–30; pit 1 ( def. ) (in the sense “enclosure for staging animal fights”) + bull(dog) ( def. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
When I lived in downtown Phoenix, my pit bull Ziggy once escaped through the fence and disappeared, causing my wife to burst into tears.
From Salon ● Feb. 20, 2026
Our dog is an all-white pit bull and her name is Betty White.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
His dog, Jesus, a striking black-and-white pit bull, followed him everywhere, tail wagging like a punctuation mark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
I love being wherever Maybelle, my gentle, white pit bull, is resting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2025
Nancy thought, An angry monkey is like a flying pit bull terrier with five prehensile limbs—these critters can do a job on you.
From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
